'Si': Epic Struggle Of A Bikini Brigade

TELEVISION

Sports Illustrated: The Making of the Swimsuit Issue (tonight at 10, HBO) is the untold story of the human struggle and sacrifice behind one of the most important journalistic events of any year.

It is recommended viewing for anyone who cares about quality television and the critical issues of our day.

This documentary offers breathtaking views of sharks trolling the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, dramatic rock formations in the U.S. desert Southwest and a heart-stopping confrontation with an enraged bull elephant in Kenya.

But above all, Making of the Swimsuit Issue is the moving story of two people: SI senior editor Jule Campbell, whose face shows the strain of 25 years of swimsuit issues, and SI managing editor Mark Mulvoy, saddled with the back-breaking, emotionally draining task of inspecting hundreds of color slides in search of the perfect ''cover'' photo.

The gripping subplot to Making of the Swimsuit Issue is expressed by Campbell in brutally matter-of-fact terms. ''We filmed 14 girls,'' she says. ''Only one of them can be on the cover.''

It is against this melancholy background that Making of the Swimsuit Issue unfolds.

The filmmakers have captured the bone-deep fatigue that threatens to overcome the globe-trotting SI staff and models at every turn - and their indomitable will to go on.

As the entourage drags itself from one rugged tropical outpost to another, the viewer may well ask himself, ''My God, how much more sun and wind can these people take?''

That's when Campbell, the steely veteran of so many tropic shoots, displays the inspiring leadership that makes hers a profile in courage.

Elle Macpherson, a lithe looker who graced last year's cover, reveals that she is haunted by the mirror. ''I'm on the border of being ugly and being okay,'' she says, and you have to wonder what the women look like on the ugly side of that border.

''We've got to make it sort of the feeling that these are the girls next door,'' says managing editor Mulvoy, and you have to wonder whether Mulvoy lives next door to the Ford modeling agency.

But then you remember the grueling hours Mulvoy has spent under the merciless sun and his delirium is understandable. Your heart goes out to him as well as the poor fellow whose thankless duty it is to brush the sand from the bronzed, barely clad butts of the models - a burden second only to the unspeakable drudgery of holding towels around models who must change in and out of suits on location.

One can only hope, for the love of God, that SI paid overtime to those who gave so much to make The Making of the Swimsuit Issue possible.